Temporary file support and place indicator

ABSTRACT

A movable support means for supporting paper folders or individual pieces of paper in upright position within a file drawer where the drawer has a rod running horizontally along its bottom. The rod runs down the center of the drawer and is recessed slightly below the drawer bottom in a groove. The support includes a panel and a pair of co-operating bracket means, one on each side of said panel. The panel is adapted to be inserted within a file drawer substantially parallel with the folders and substantially perpendicular to the rod. The bracket means are attached to the lower portion of the panel by a rivet or other attaching means which allow said brackets to rotate about a common axis substantially perpendicular to said panel. In operative position the bracket means include a leg extending upward from below the bottom of the panel to a spot intermediate the bottom and top of said panel. A foot portion on the lower end of the leg portion extends transverse to the leg portion and is adapted to fit beneath the rod to brace the panel against tilting. An upturned sloped portion on the forward end of the foot position serves to prevent gouging of the bottom of the drawer when the foot portion slips under the rod.

United States Patent 1 Dunlap [451 Nov. 6, 1973 TEMPORARY FILE SUPPORT AND PLACE INDICATOR [76] Inventor: Gladys E. Dunlap, 107 North Franklin St., Delaware, Ohio 43015 [22] Filed: Dec. 20, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 209,798

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 17,217, March 6,

1970, abandoned.

Primary ExaminerGeorge E. Lowrance AttorneySidney W. Millard [57] ABSTRACT A movable support means for supporting paper folders or individual pieces of paper in upright position within a file drawer where the drawer has a rod running horizontally along its bottom. The rod runs down the center of the drawer and is recessed slightly below the drawer bottom in a groove. The support includes a panel and a pair of co-operating bracket means, one on each side of said panel. The panel is adapted to be inserted within a tile drawer substantially parallel with the folders and substantially perpendicular to the rod. The bracket means are attached to the lower portion of the panel by a rivet or other attaching means which allow said brackets to rotate about a common axis substantially perpendicular to said panel. In operative position the bracket means include a leg extending upward from below the bottom of the panel to a spot intermediate the bottom and top of said panel. A foot portion on the lower end of the leg portion extends transverse to the leg portion and is adapted to fit beneath the rod to brace the panel against tilting. An upturned sloped portion on the forward end of the foot position serves to prevent gouging of the bottom of the drawer when the foot portion slips under the rod.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 17,217 entitled TEMPO- RARY FILE SUPPORT AND PLACE INDICATOR, filed Mar. 6, 1970, now abandoned.

In all offices have a substantial number of file cabinets it is often necessary to remove some of the stored file folders and papers from their assigned spot and later to return them to the same place. When the file folders will be out of the drawer for a sustained period of time and a large number are to be removed, those remaining tend to bend or flop down into the vacated spots.

This is obviously an undesirable situation as it could tend to mix papers not intended to be so combined. It is also desirable to allow one having the removed files to be able to insert them back in the proper place easily without thumbing through the papers to relocate the exact sequence for said files.

This invention has served to solve this problem existing in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Many of the filing cabinets in existence in various offices include a plurality of drawers, each with a re cessed groove in its bottom running down the center and a rod extending the length of said drawer in the groove. The purpose of the rod is to accommodate a file support bracket which is mounted in the rear portion of the drawer and is axially movable on the rod. This rear support bracket is adjustable to push the files to the front of the drawer and hold them compressed together in upright position.

Often it is necessary to remove some of the files from the middle of the drawer to do some work. The temporary file support of this invention is adapted to cooperate with the rod to temporarily hold the remaining papers and files in an upright position while the original batch is missing from the drawer. It also allows one to reinsert the files in place without having to thumb through the large number of papers in the file to find the correct sequence.

The temporary support, as a place indicator, includes two identical elements, one to be placed on each side of the void left by the removed files. Each element includes a rigid panel with L-shaped brackets on each side, which brackets are pivotable about a rivet projecting through the panel. The rivet connects said brackets to said panel and allows them to pivot about a common axis. Each L-shaped bracket includes a foot portion on its lower end which hooks beneath the rod running down the center of the drawer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a temporary file support embodying said invention within a drawer.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view, partially in section, taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of the temporary file support of this invention with the L-shaped brackets retracted to allow the file support to be inserted or removed from the drawer.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the invention includes a temporary file support 10 mounted within a file drawer 12 having sidewalls 14, a front wall 16, and a bottom 18. As with many file drawers, a groove 20 runs down the center of the drawer bottom and within the groove is a rod 22 which supports a longitudinally adjustable file support (not shown) in the rear of the drawer.

The file support bracket 10 as described and shown is usually intended to be used in pairs, one to hold the remaining files in the front of the drawer in upright position and one to hold the remaining files in the rear of the drawer in upright position. The two file supports themselves are identical and for convenience only one such support will be described. It includes a panel 24 of some rigid, preferably light weight, material. The particular size of panel 24 is relatively immaterial as it is only intended to hold the files or papers in an upright position. It could be slightly smaller than letter sized papers, as large as legal sized papers, or any place in between. The intent, of course, is merely to have something broad enough and rigid enough to hold the files and papers in place.

The top 26 of the panel 24 should not extend above the top of the drawer and the bottom 28 is adapted to rest on the bottom 18 of the file drawer.

An attaching means such as a rivet 30 projects through the panel 24 intermediate its upper and lower edges for the purpose of connecting two L-shaped brackets 32 and 34 which are coaxially pivotably about the rivet.

As will be observed in the drawings, the rivet 30 is immediately above the rod 22 in a vertical plane. The purpose of this is to have a balanced structure which allows the L-shaped brackets 32 and 34 to fall freely into place within the drawer whereby the panel itself will thereby be centered within the drawer.

The brackets themselves include a leg portion 36 projecting from below the bottom 28 of the panel upward to rivet 30. A footpiece 38 connected to the lower end of leg portion 36 extends substantially perpendicular to a line drawn between the pivot point 30 of the brackets and the center line of the rod 22, that is, the foot 38 extends perpendicular to such a line in its operative position as shown in FIGS. 1 through 3.

As will be observed, the two bracket portions 32 and 34 are substantially identical in shape except that they pivot in opposite directions and are attached on opposite sides of the panel. This is best illustrated in FIG. 4. The purpose of the oppositely operating brackets is to provide equal and opposite counter balancing bracing portions to hold the bracket in place.

As will be observed, the rod 22 passes through or immediately below a curved recess 39 in the bottom 28 of the panel to accommodate larger sizes of rods. It will also be observed that the ridges or upturned sloped forward portions 40 of the footpiece 38 allow it to slip easily under the rod without gouging or scraping the groove bottom. The bracket will swing freely until it engages the rod on the curved surface 42.

In operation, files as are needed are removed from the drawer 12 leaving a vacant spot. A pair of file supports 10 are then inserted into the vacated area. The forwardmost file support 10 will be inserted into the area with the brackets 32, 34 withdrawn or opened as shown in FIG. 4. As soon as the bottom 28 of the file support contacts the bottom 18 of the drawer the brackets may be released and they will swing downwardly to hook under the rod 22. The bracket will then slip forward or backward with one footpiece sliding under adjacent file wrappers. This will help brace the support in upright position as the weight of the file wrappers will push against tilting.

The same procedure will be followed in mounting the companion file support for the back of the void created by the removed folders; no further explanation appears necessary.

The method of removing the temporary file supports and reinserting the files is obvious.

Modifications will be obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art and it is not intended that every possible modification be described or illustrated in the specification. Similarly it is not intended that the words used to describe the invention nor the drawings be limiting on the invention, rather it is intended that the invention be limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A removable support means for temporarily supporting paper folders and the like in upright position within a file drawer comprising,

a. a rigid panel means for parallel positioning adjacent said folders within a file drawer, said panel being positioned above and substantially perpendicular to a rod in the bottom of said drawer extending from the front of the drawer to the rear,

b. bracket means pivotally mounted on said panel for temporarily connecting the panel to the rod without movement of said rod or drawer and holding said panel in substantially rigid position within said drawer perpendicular to said rod, said bracket means being the only mechanical connection between said rod and panel,

c. said bracket means comprising two generally L- shaped elements mounted to pivot coaxially on a rivot extending through the upper leg portions of each L-shaped element and through the panel, one element being on each side of the panel and oriented to pivot in opposite directions into operative position,

01. each element including (1) a concavity to accommodate the rod and (2) a foot portion on the lower end of the leg portion to hook beneath the rod and prevent pivoting of the panel in one direction, extending in opposite directions from the leg portions, the foot portion on one element being oriented to prevent pivoting of the panel toward the front of the drawer and the other foot portion on the other element being oriented to prevent pivoting of the panel toward the rear of the drawer, thereby holding the panel in rigid, upright position,

e. in operative position each foot portion including a planar surface in extended linear contact with the bottom of the rod, said planar surface being substantially perpendicular to the panel, and

f. the forward portion of said foot portion being sloped upwardly to extend above the bottom of said rod. 

1. A removable support means for temporarily supporting paper folders and the like in upright position within a file drawer comprising, a. a rigid panel means for parallel positioning adjacent said folders within a file drawer, said panel being positioned above and substantially perpendicular to a rod in the bottom of said drawer extending from the front of the drawer to the rear, b. bracket means pivotally mounted on said panel for temporarily connecting the panel to the rod without movement of said rod or drawer and holding said panel in substantially rigid position within said drawer perpendicular to said rod, said bracket means being the only mechanical connection between said rod and panel, c. said bracket means comprising two generally L-shaped elements mounted to pivot coaxially on a rivot extending through the upper leg portions of each L-shaped element and through the panel, one element being on each side of the panel and oriented to pivot in opposite directions into operative position, d. each element including (1) a concavity to accommodate the rod and (2) a foot portion on the lower end of the leg portion to hook beneath the rod and prevent pivoting of the panel in one direction, extending in opposite directions from the leg portions, the foot portion on one element being oriented to prevent pivoting of the panel toward the front of the drawer and the other foot portion on the other element being oriented to prevent pivoting of the panel toward the rear of the drawer, thereby holding the panel in rigid, upright position, e. in operative position each foot portion including a planar surface in extended linear contact with the bottom of the rod, said planar surface being substantially perpendicular to the panel, and f. the forward portion of said foot portion being sloped upwardly to extend above the bottom of said rod. 